


The Moon Isn't the Only Thing a Wolf Needs

by starshine (RedRidingStiles)



Series: Sunshine Boy [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alpha Talia Hale, Derek Hale Needs To Use His Words, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, First Kiss, Full Shift Werewolves, Growly Derek Hale, Hurt Derek Hale, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mentioned Paige, Nemeton, POV Derek Hale, Peter Hale & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Peter Hale Ships Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Peter Hale is a Little Shit, Scenting, Scents & Smells, Shirt Swapping, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Stiles smells like sunshine, Stiles talks to trees, Tattooed Stiles Stilinski, Werewolf Mates, plant boy Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 02:09:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16986135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedRidingStiles/pseuds/starshine
Summary: Peter was wrong, Derek does not think the plant boy is cute. He can barely stand to be in the same room as the kid, he’s so talkative and steals Derek’s favorite shirts and smells like the woods and sunshine and home and Derek doesn’t even like the boy, he doesn’t think he’s cute. He doesn’t.Derek is 18 Paige happened still Stiles is 17 is a green spark, Hales are alive Stiles is training with Deaton to be the pack emissary, the hales love stiles, except for Derek though everyone knows it’s because they’re mates and Derek is too dumb to see it yet. Stiles is really close to the nemoton and is always in the woods which is annoying because Derek likes to go in the woods a lot and he smells stiles everywhere. It doesn’t help that whenever he does see stiles Derek forgets how to talk like a normal person but it doesn’t even matter because Stiles likes to talk to the plants more than he does humans. Peter is a little shit who gets along really well with Stiles, Derek runs around in his wolf form a lot and watches stiles when he thinks he’s not aware but the trees tell Stiles every time and even tease him about how Derek likes him





	The Moon Isn't the Only Thing a Wolf Needs

Ever since Derek learned to shift into his full wolf form it seems like he spends more time as a wolf then he does as a human, or at least that’s what his mom tells him. He can’t really help himself, being a wolf is a lot easier than being a human. He doesn’t have to talk to people, he doesn’t have to pretend he knows how to be sociable or even wear clothes. He can just shift and run for as long and as far as he wants. The Hale territory is quite large giving the man a good space to hide away from his loving but over barring family and from the scent that has been driving him up the wall since he was 11. It was the smell of sunshine, earth and magic perfectly mixed together to haunt his every waking moment. It lingered everywhere, in the woods, in his house, out in town. Derek was just glad he had finally graduated and didn’t have to deal with it at school anymore.

“I feel it too, something is going to happen. I just wish I knew what it was.”

And there it was, the very thing Derek was trying to avoid as he ran through the preserve. Well, not a thing so much as a person. Derek took a few silent steps closer to where the voice was coming from, he poked his head around a large tree that lead into the clearing where an old and secret magical tree stood. Sitting at the base of the tree, his back to Derek as he spoke to the tree in front of him like it was his best friend (Derek would go as far as to say it was) sat Stiles.

Stiles was what Derek was trying to stay as far as possible away from. The boy was only a year younger then Derek was, his face still holding a small layer of baby fat. His skin was pale with moles dotting every other inch of the boy’s skin. His hair was a soft brown styled in a way that made it look as if the boy had ran his hands through it many a time, which Derek knew was the case. Derek watches the boy from afar for most of the day, smells the boy putting magic into everything around him. Derek thinks he can even feel it in himself as he trails behind the boy silently. Derek doesn’t know why he follows him, he thinks it’s just to make sure the clumsy boy don’t kill himself tripping over stray tree branches or roots. Derek’s mother would be upset if he let the plant boy die.

 

***

 

Derek is just coming out from the woods after a run when he stops in his tracks and whipped around to face the greenhouse. The smell of sunshine, earth and magic mixed with his own scent was coming out the open door. Derek didn’t realize his feet were moving till he was standing just inches in front of Stiles who had his back turn to him.

“Why?” Derek bites out, making the other boy startle and drop the watering can he was holding. Water spilled onto the concrete floor as Stiles swore softly and bent down to pick it up, standing up and facing Derek with wide brown eyes.

“Um, what?” Stiles asks as his eyes flickered from Derek’s electric blue eyes down to his clenched fists.

“My shirt, on your body. Why?” Derek practically growls back, closing his eyes for a second in hopes to gain some of his control back. The smell of this boy and his own scent mixing together was doing awful things to his self control.

“Oh right,” Stiles mutters as he looks down at his torso, giving Derek a half smile as he shrugged one shoulder. “I spilled water on myself earlier when Peter stopped by to say hi and he said I could borrow one of yours.”

Derek thinks Peter is trying to kill him, or Stiles, or both. There’s no other reason Peter would be messing with him like this. Peter knows how much Derek hates people touching his stuff, let alone _wearing_ it.

“Don’t worry dude I’ll wash it tonight and give it back to you,” Stiles promises, patting Derek on the shoulder gently. Derek stares at his hand, can already smell his scent lingering on his clothes. Derek doesn’t even want to think about the fact that if Stiles does wash his shirt it’s only going to smell even more like Stiles, even more like the both of them mixed together.

“Keep it.”

***

Derek is seriously going to kill his uncle. Rip his throat out with his teeth if he has to. The older man keeps giving Stiles Derek’s clothes because the boy is apparently the clumsiest person alive and always manages to ruin whatever shirt he is wearing whenever he comes over. Well, not _every_ shirt, no, because the stupid sunshine smelling boy starts to wear Derek’s shirts like they’re his own and never manages to spill anything on those ones. So now Derek has a drawer filled with annoying graphic tees that Stiles leaves in his laundry whenever he spills water or mud or even his orange juice from dinner the other night. Every time it happens Peter is there to laugh and say he can just _borrow_ another one of Derek’s shirts and Derek can’t even say no because half the time his mother is there to insist Derek let the sunshine boy wear his clothes. His whole family is trying to kill him, he swears it. So now Derek isn’t even surprised when he walks into his room, which no one should be in because it’s _his_ room, to find the boy without a shirt on (and really the boy is only 17 how does he have that many rune tattooed on him already?) standing next to his evil uncle as they go through his closet.

“What are you doing?” Derek asks, well, growls. Peter smirks at him and Derek has to fight the urge to claw it off his face as Stiles gives him a sheepish smile.

“Peter was helping me in the greenhouse and spilled half a jar of moonwort oil down my shirt, I swear this is like the seventh time it’s happened. I’m about to band him from the premises.” Stiles jokes, taking the shirt Peter hands him and pulling it over his head, blocking Derek’s view of the fragile pale skin and bold inked lines.

“Now Stiles, who would keep you company while you work? It was an honest accident.” Peter smiles, winking at Derek as the sunshine boy rolls his eyes.

“Honest is a word I didn’t know you had in your vocabulary, Peter.” Stiles laughs, the sound sending weird shocks through Derek’s body. Derek decided he doesn’t like it, it makes him feel too much like when Paige had laughed. Derek didn’t even realize he had started to growl subvocal until Peter smirked, _evilly_ , at him.

“Would you rather I lend him one of mine, nephew?” He looks the spark up and down slowly, like he was taking in every part of the boy’s body and Derek is suddenly very glad the boy had put on Derek’s shirt. His uncle should not be looking at 17 year old boys like that.

“It might be a little big on him though.” Peter hums, turning his head to stare right at Derek with that stupid evil smirk still on his face. His comment makes Derek growls deepen because, _no_ , the boy already smells too much like his uncle from all the time the two spend together. Derek does not want it to get worse.

“No,” Derek bites out, his hands balled into fist as he tries to keep his beta shift at bay. The room was starting to smell like sunshine and the woods and magic and it was making Derek’s wolf whine pathetically and Derek hates everyone in the room.

“Wonderful, we may as well just have our young spark keep some of his clothes here for when more _accidents_ happen. I smell you’ve already made up a drawer for him.” Peter comments with a small sniff of the air.

“Wait that’s where my shirts went? I thought you were messing with me when you said they had disappeared. My favorite Batman shirt got soaked when you attacked me with the hose last week.” Stiles says, looking at Peter with narrowed eyes. Derek knows which shirt Stiles is talking about, it’s the one that smells most strongly of the boy even after being thrown in with Derek’s dirty laundry.

“Yes that was fun, wasn’t it? We should do it again some time.” Peter hums, winking down at Stiles. Stiles smiled and rolls his eyes at the older man, bumping his shoulder against Peter’s side.

“You just like seeing me soaking wet and pissed off,” Stiles mutters with a small smile. Peter grins wickedly at the spark as he nods his head once, his words practically a purr when he speaks.

“It’s quite a sight indeed,”

“Are you done?” Derek cuts in harshly, not liking the look Peter is giving the boy at all. His uncle was such a _creep_ , flirting unashamed with the boy right in front of Derek. Derek thinks his plan of killing him isn’t such a bad idea.

“You’re such a Sourwolf,” Stiles tells Derek. “Are you sure you don’t want me to give back your shirts?”

“No.”

 

***

 

Derek is running through the preserve in his wolf form like he always does on Saturdays when he hears a soft voice coming from his right a mile or so out. He huffs to himself because of course the stupid plant boy is out in his woods again. Derek silently makes his way towards the voice and stops behind a few bushes so the boy won’t see him. Stiles is sitting on the ground against a tree with a fallen leaf in one hand as the other gently cards though the grass near his side. He’s wearing one of Derek’s shirts and his signature red hoodie, the one that Derek’s family always pokes fun at, calling the boy Little Red whenever they see him in it.

“Just because your 106 years old doesn’t mean you know that,” Stiles is saying to, well to himself, because no one else is around but Derek and the boy doesn’t even know he’s here.

“Please, he can barely be in the same room as me, he really doesn’t.” Stiles is saying with a sigh. Letting go of the leaf and watching it hang in the air in front of him. The boy pauses like he’s listening to someone before rolling his eyes.

“Peter says the same thing, but I really don’t think it’s true. If you like someone you _talk_ to them. Not growl at them.”

Derek is almost sure that this plant boy is talking to the tree behind him at this point because really it wouldn’t even surprise him at this point. The boy is strange, no doubt about it.

“I know he’s been through a lot, it was awful. Nemy told me what happened. You guys were droopy for weeks after it, I was afraid no one would get back to full health. That doesn’t mean he can go around all growly and barely talk to his family. Mo-Talia said he hasn’t been on a run with them since it happened. He just goes off to Nemy and hides away all night.”

Stiles is talking about _him_ , the stupid sunshine boy is talking about Derek like he knows what Derek is going through. Like he can possibly understand the empty feeling in Derek’s heart that Paige had filled until Derek had to put her out of her misery. How he had to watch as she suffered and begged him to make it stop hurting. How he had to did his claws into her pale flesh and take the life out of her body so she would't have to bare the pain anymore.

“I’m not saying he has to get better, I’m saying he has to at least _try_. After my mom died I was the same way, wouldn’t talk, wouldn’t smile. Kept everything to myself until I couldn’t anymore. I had to talk to someone before it ate me alive. That’s what it’s doing to him now, I just want to help but he won’t even let me get within a foot of him unless he’s there to growl at me in two word sentences.” Stiles sighs, pushing a hand through his hair as he watches the leaf fall to the forest floor.

“Yeah yeah, I know. He’s always doing that, all the trees tell me. It’s not like I don’t feel him. He’s on my soil.”

Shit, Stiles did know he was here, _always_ knew when he was around. Stupid plant boy and his stupid connections to the preserve.

“I just want to help,” Stiles whispers, his lips turned down in a frown that makes Derek whine softly to himself. The boy’s scent is damp and the usual sunshine smell is being tainted and it’s not _right_ damn it. The boy gets up and brushes himself off, placing a hand on the tree in farewell as he speaks.

“I’m gonna finish my rounds, I’ll talk to you guys later.”

Derek doesn’t know why he does it, but Stiles already knows he’s there and his scent is still mucky so what the hell. He trails out from his hiding spot and moves to follow the boy, falling in step with him easily. Stiles turns his head and his frown turns into a soft smile and his scent slowly turns into the sunshine smell that Derek has come to anticipate from the boy.

“Hey Sourwolf,” Stiles mutters down at him Derek huffs at the nickname and butts his head against the boy’s leg, snorting when it causes the boy to stumble slightly.

“You have the worst wood side manner, I should tell your mother.” Stiles grumbles, but the smile is still there and his scent gets even brighter so Derek knows he’s actually happy. Derek ends up walking with him as he goes around and touches trees and bushes and flowers and Derek can taste the magic in the air as the woods soak up everything the boy gives it. It’s nice, Stiles talks to the trees and the flowers and Derek just trots beside him silently. Maybe the plant boy isn’t so bad.

***

It becomes a think after that. Derek would never admit to anyone that he likes it, but whenever he’s out for a run and scenes the plant boy in the woods he follows him around. Listens to him talk to all the trees and plants, lays his head down near the boy’s legs when he sits and talks to the Nemeton. Derek doesn’t think the boy ever stops talking, but it’s okay because he talks to Derek and doesn’t even seem to mind that all Derek can do is answer in facial expressions. It becomes a routine for them, sometimes Derek will even go into the greenhouse in his human form when Stiles is there just to watch him work or help him move around the heavy bags of soil. Derek doesn’t talk much in his human form, but Stiles still doesn’t seem to mind. Filling the silence with his never ending stories of his friends from school, or his father and how he tries to sneak red meat and curly fries when Stiles isn’t there to get on his case. Sometimes the spark will even gift Derek with stories of his mother, telling Derek how he got his spark from her. How she taught him how to use his magic and to love the earth. How after she died Deaton had to pick up his training and introduced him to the Hales. Derek likes those stories the best, it makes Derek feel important that the boy feels like he can talk to Derek about such sensitive topics. It takes a while, but after a few weeks Derek starts to open up to the sunshine boy about Paige, about how they met and how wonderful she was. How much Derek missed her, how hard it is to live with the hole she left in his chest. How it’s all his fault she’s gone. Stiles doesn’t tell him he’s wrong, he just smiles sadly at him and tells him everything happens for a reason. The plant boy would put a hand on Derek’s arm and tell him that holding onto the pain can tear you apart if you let it. When the next full moon comes, Stiles is there and Derek runs with the spark and his family and he thinks that maybe, the hole in his chest gets just that much smaller.

***

 

“Have you finally got your head out of your ass?” Peter asks from the doorway of Derek’s bedroom. The young werewolf is currently laying on his bed reading a book that Stiles had left on his bed. It’s about proper care of plants using magic, something Derek would never willingly read normally but he’s curious how Stiles’ magic works.

“What?” Derek grunts, not looking up from his page. He hears his uncle let out a long suffering sigh, like Derek is an idiot, which is _rude_. Derek’s plan for ripping his throat out is about half a minute from happening.

“Have you finally come to your senses and told the poor boy how you feel?” Peter questions, stepping forward into the room and running his hands all over Derek’s desk, knowing fully well the boy hates people touching his things. Peter’s a prick like that.

“What are you talking about?” Derek asks, his eyebrows drawing together as he finally looks up at the older werewolf. Peter rolls his eyes and sighs again, giving Derek a pointed look like he should _know_ what he’s talking about.

“Your _mate_ , have you told him?”

“He’s not my _mate_ , what the hell are you talking about, Peter?” Derek demands, slamming his book shut and standing up from the bed because those are scary words that Derek does not want to hear. _Ever_.

“Are you delusional, or just incredibly dense?” Peter questions, turning to face Derek from where he was rifling through the papers on his desk.

“He’s not-why would you-he’s-and I’m- _no_.”

“Dense then, I thought so. Honestly nephew, do you know how to use your scenes at all?”

Derek is not amused, he’s an excellent wolf, thank you very much _Peter_. Of course he knows how to use his senses. He’s one of the only people in his family that can do a full shift besides his mother and Laura. Derek wonders if his mother would be mad if he really did kill her brother. Derek thinks he could get away with it, maybe a small grounding or a long lecture about acceptable behavior and using his words. It’d be worth it.

“I mean, even I know how delicious he smells and he’s not even my mate, I don’t know how you haven’t claimed him yet. That sharp tongue, oh I think I’d like to hear what he sounded like underneath me. Bet he’d be loud, _responsive_. And that pretty fair skin, how’s _perfect_ it would look marked. And that _mouth_ , I’d-“

Derek will take the lecture, he’s gonna kill his uncle and bask in the glory of his demise.

“ _Shut up_!” Derek roars, throwing himself at his uncle without thinking. His claws extended and his features shifted. He swipes at the man and feels his claws dig into his shoulder with satisfaction. Before he can make another move Peter side steps him and kicks his leg out from under him. Derek growls as he hits the floor, rolling till he’s in a crouching position, ready to attack again when his mother comes barging into the room.

“ **Derek** ,” His mother roars, her eyes shining red as she stares down at him. He’s growls up at her, his wolf whining at the alpha’s voice but the threat to his mate is still in his eyesight and he wants to destroy it. Need to make sure no one else touches his mate, can’t let them even think they can go near what is his. He’s about to charge at Peter again when another voice comes from the doorway, soft, just barely over a whisper. Accompanied by sunshine and magic and his.

“Derek,”

Derek’s head snaps to the boy in the doorway, his wolf screaming at him to protect, to claim. He growls softly and moves to stand and hold his mate when the wolf next to his mate puts her arm out in front of his mate, _touching_ his mate. Trying to keep Derek from what is _his_. She has to die now too Derek decides. Derek scowls at the wolf, a deep, threatening growl ripping from deep in his chest as he approaches the wolf trying to take his mate from him.

“Talia, dear sister, move.” He hears Peter say from behind him, he sees the wolf’s red eyes flicker from him to his uncle then to Derek’s mate. Derek growls again at the wolf that’s way too close to his mate, who is _still_ touching him, how dare she even look at him, she has no right.

“Peter, what did you do?” Talia hisses at her brother.

“I gave the boy a gently push in the right direction.” Is Peter’s response. Derek sees his mate roll his eyes and snort at the comment.

“Your version of gently is the equivalent of being hit by a bus.” Stiles states matter of factly. Derek takes a step closer to his sunshine mate as he speaks, the sound of his voice sending a warm wave over Derek’s body. The wolf, Derek doesn’t care if it’s an alpha, his _alpha_ , he’s about two seconds from attacking her if she doesn’t back the hell off.

“Talia I really suggest you take your arm away if you’d like to keep it.” Peter hums, making the alpha glare murderously at her brother.

“I’m not going to move, he’s practically feral, Peter. He could hurt Stiles.”

How dare this alpha say he would hurt his mate. Derek would never hurt his precious mate. His wolf, and possibly Derek, growl harshly at the accusation. Getting sick of the whole situation. He just wants to be near his mate, to scent him and claim him like he’s suppose to goddamn it.

“Won’t hurt. _Mine_.” Derek rumbles, glaring at the alpha with stormy eyes. He sees his mate’s eyes widen, the whiskey color becoming even more prominent. Derek’s wolf whines at the sight, wanting to see it up close.

“Talia, it’s okay. He won’t hurt me.” His mate says as he places his own hand on the alpha’s to push it away. Derek’s wolf practically purrs at the words, glad his mate knows Derek would never hurt him. The alpha looks like she wants to protest but Stiles is already slipping further into the room until he’s standing just a foot in front of Derek.

“Hey Sourwolf, you in there?” Stiles whispers, looking into Derek’s eyes with a soft smile. Derek lets out a happy sound, quickly reaching his clawed hands out and grabbing onto the boy in front of him till they are flushes together. Derek’s nose pressed into the side of the boy’s neck where the sunshine and woods and magic is most prominent. He can feel the other boy’s breathing against his skin, can hear his steady, always too fast heartbeat in his ears. He tightens his arms around the boy, wanting to be as close as possible.

“What did mean old Peter say to get you so riled up, hmm?” Stiles asks, tilting his head to give Derek better access to his delicate neck.

“Wants you. Can’t have, _mine_.” Derek growls out, hugging the sunshine boy even closer to him as Stiles runs his hands through Derek’s hair gently. Making the older boy’s chest rumble happily.

“I’m yours am I? Were you gonna tell me this little bit of information, huh?” Stiles teases, Derek grumbles a little, licking over the spot he wants to bite down on.

“My young nephew here needed a little help figuring it out,” Peter supplies. Derek growls at the sound of the other wolf’s voice, moving to press Stiles into the nearest wall and out of his uncle’s sight. His mate lets him, still stroking Derek’s hair.

“Ahh, let me guess, he provoked you until your wolf came to the surface and you attacked him?” Stiles asks Derek, the older boy still sniffing at his neck.

“Yes,” Derek mutters into the boy’s skin. He tugs on the offensive shirt, not even one of _Derek’s_ shirts which is just rude in itself, out of the way so he can get to more of the boy’s delicious pale skin.

“Hey buddy, if you claw up my shirt I’m gonna be mad. I like this shirt.” Stiles whispers in his ear as Derek mouths at his collarbone.

“No shirt, not even _my_ shirt. Don’t like it.” Derek grumbles back even as he feels his claws retracting.

“You like when I wear your clothes? Thought you hated it, always growling at me.” Stiles laughs, letting his head lean back against the wall. Stiles waves his hand at Peter and Talia, letting them know he’s got this and that they should leave.

“Smell like me, magic and sunshine and _me_ ,” Derek tells the boy as the two older werewolves leave the room, closing the door behind them, finally letting Derek relax into his mate properly.

“I smell like sunshine? Does that mean I’m _your_ sunshine?” Stiles asks in a teasing voice.

“My sunshine,” Derek agrees happily, finally pulling away enough to look the other boy in the eyes.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you coming back to yourself and never talking to me again.” Stiles mutters his scent dripping into something sad and resigned. Derek wants to claw his own eyes out, his mate thinks he doesn’t want him and it’s all Derek’s fault.

“Want you, gonna prove it. Gonna court you.” Derek nods to himself at the words, already running over ideas of what he wants to do for the boy.

“Oh going old school are we? As long as no dead animals end up at my door I’m fine with that.” Stiles laughs, making Derek frown, he’s going to have to rethink his plan now.

“God you’re too cute, can’t believe the trees were right.” Stiles says with a small shake of his head.

“The trees?” Derek questions raising an eyebrow at the plant boy.

“Yah they told me I had a claim on you but I didn’t really listen, didn’t think you would want me.” Stiles replies with a small shrug, not meeting Derek’s eye as the werewolf frowns.

“I do, I-I’m sorry, about you know-I’m not good with words.” Derek apologizes, scowling to himself for making the boy think Derek wouldn’t want him. Derek felt like an idiot, he was a born wolf, he should have known.

“I know,” Stiles whispers with a small smile, his hand cupping Derek’s cheek lightly. “I can talk enough for the both of us.”

Derek doesn’t get a chance to respond before the plant boy is leaning in and closing the distance between them. His lips are soft and plush against Derek’s own as they kiss sweetly, Derek’s hands cradling the sunshine boy’s hips as their mouths move gently, the scent of sunshine and magic and woods engulfing Derek entire being. When they pull apart Derek stares into the boy’s amber eyes, sees the light behind them brighten as a beautiful smile takes over the sunshine boy’s face.

“So courting? That means you’re going to shower me with presents right?”

**Author's Note:**

> Might do a part two if I feel like it, let me know what you think!


End file.
